


Limbo No Longer

by burn_me_up_scotty



Category: Matthias & Maxime (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26763838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burn_me_up_scotty/pseuds/burn_me_up_scotty
Summary: The morning after the fateful kiss, Matt asks Max if he's awake, and gets no answer.Imagine if Max had responded?Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie, unrequited love and all... but I also think Matthias and Maxime deserve a little romance and a happy ending. So here it is.
Relationships: Matthias Ruiz/Maxime Leduc
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Limbo No Longer

THE FIRST WEEKEND

 _Fuck Rivette’s annoying sister_ , Matt thought to himself. _And fuck Ms. Rivette for adding a waterbed down here._

Matt hadn’t slept at all the night before. Every movement Max made was telegraphed ten-fold by the waterbed. _Not that I could have slept any better on a regular mattress, alone_ , Matt thought.

It was a given that Matt and Max would be the ones to share a bed when the guys got together. They’d been friends forever, plus they usually ended up talking late into the night. Rivette had long ago declared: “Max & Matt absolutely must get their own room, so their gossiping doesn’t keep the rest of us up.”

Last night, they’d barely spoken.

Matt had tried to return to the blessed state of shut-down emotions in which he normally existed. Yet with every disorienting pulse of the waterbed, he felt more and more out of control. All he wanted was to pretend Max wasn’t a foot away, and instead he felt intimately connected, every reflected shift a constant reminder of their proximity.

 _I can’t do it without him,_ Matt thought. _I can’t keep up with the bullshit if he leaves._

Max had always been Matt’s refuge from the world, from his mother’s inanity, from his father’s expectations. Max listened deeply. Max put things in perspective. And Max wasn’t ashamed to show his love, or his pain.

Pale blue light filtered through the window, giving the room an ethereal quality. Aside from Max’s steady breathing, silence reigned. It was the kind of moment where secrets could be shared, souls bared.

Matt lifted his head to look at Max. He looked so calm. _How can he be so calm,_ thought Matt. _That fucking kiss tore me apart._

Matt needed to scream, run, do something to find an outlet for the energy boiling up inside. Max was the one who always handled emotions for them, who always quelled Matt’s outbursts. _And why not this time,_ Matt thought somewhat ironically, _since it’s his fault anyways_.

“Max?” Silence. “Max? You awake?”

Max shifted slightly, but didn’t respond.

 _Fuck,_ Matt thought, turning to stare out the window. _Fuck_.

Then the world rolled beneath Matt. Max slowly rolled over to face him. “Yes, I’m awake,” Max said. _Thank god,_ Matt thought.

They looked at each other, for a while. Matt looked away first.

Max sighed, the motion reverberating throughout the bed. “Can’t sleep?” Max said. “This fucking water bed sucks.” He pushed his legs down, setting the whole bed in motion.

Matt looked at Max, who had a smug smile on his face. In retaliation, Matt shoved his hips off the bed as high as they would go and slammed back down, the force exploding like a tidal wave.

After that they both gyrated in place, trying to bounce each other higher. Their conflicting waves created a mess of motion, until the battle was finally brought to an end when their heads collided.

Matt cursed. Max started laughing. After a half second, Matt started laughing too.

It was the type of laughter that can only happen between two friends on the same wavelength; the type where the laughter just escalates, jokes unspoken but nevertheless shared. It was cleansing, breaking down some unspoken barrier of formality between the two friends that had existed since yesterday.

With the barrier gone, Matt’s emotions broke out too. After a minute, his laughter morphed first into sad chuckles and then into heavy sobs. It had been a long time since he’d cried like this.

“Oh, Matthias,” Max said. He slid over on the bed to throw an arm around Matt, pulling him in till Matt’s head was buried against Max’s chest. Max let him cry for a while.

Eventually, Max pulled back and looked down at Matt. “What’s wrong, Matt? If you can’t tell me, who can you tell?” Max paused, looking away. When he looked back, unshed tears filled his eyes. “Please, Matt.”

Matt took a deep breath. _He’s leaving me, anyways,_ Matt thought. _It can’t really get worse._ He gathered his courage.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Matt said, haltingly. “I can’t imagine life without you.”

Max nodded. “I’m scared also,” he said. “I’ll miss you more than you know. But I have to go. I need to know who I am without my mother pulling me down. And anyways, you’re on a different path. You have Sarah. There’s no room for me there.”

Matt shook his head. “When I think of a life with her, or about rising up the ranks at the firm, it makes me feel numb. Dead inside.” 

Matt soldiered on, wanting to get it all out before he lost his nerve. “I’m not sure I ever told you how proud I am of how you’re handling your mother. And I think you are so brave to go to Australia. You deserve to go. But I’m selfish. I can’t live in a world that doesn’t have room for you.” Matt grabbed Max’s hand, interlacing their fingers. “I love you Max. I’m in love with you.”

Max’s unshed tears began to fall. “What?” Max said, slow to process the words, unable to respond.

“I’ve been in love with you since high school, Max. Being friends was enough, for a while. But a fake kiss, on camera no less, uncovered the deeply buried truth. Kissing you is like tasting the sun. You make me feel alive in a way I never thought I deserved.”

Max stared at him for a while, brow furrowed. “But, in high school,” Max said, “you ignored me after that kiss. You could have told me how you felt. I’ve loved you forever; if I’d only known.” Max punched Matt in the arm, lightly. “We could have done so much in high school, you idiot!”

Matt chuckled. “Yeah, you wouldn’t have lost your virginity at 18.”

Max reached back out to Matt’s hand, grabbing it and placing it against his own chest. “I will always love you, Matt. You fill my heart.” He paused. “But I still need to leave,” he finished.

Matt took a few deep breaths. “I know,” he breathed out. “But I could survive it if I knew you would be mine when you got back.”

Max smiled. “I’ve always been yours,” he said. “But I’m not kissing you again until you break up with Sarah.”

Matt lay back and grabbed Max’s arm, draping it over his chest. “OK,” Matt said. “But friends can cuddle too.”

Max grunted in agreement, laying his head on Matt’s chest.

They stayed like that until the rising sun poured into the room, burning away the last shadows.

**************

TWELVE DAYS BEFORE AUSTRALIA

Matt’s phone buzzed just as he got home.

 _She will never change,_ it read. _And I’m fucking bleeding._

Matt knew Max had planned to see his mom today. She had always been volatile.

 _Come here,_ Matt texted back. _I have band-aids._

By the time Max was knocking at the door, Matt had showered and was trying to choose a button-down for the party at the Rivette’s.

Matt went to open the door, only to find Max slumped against the wall, defeated. He pulled Max into a hug. “I’ve got you now,” Matt said.

“I’ll get blood on your shirt,” Max said, pulling away.

Matt pulled him in tighter. “It’s only an undershirt. And I care more about you than it. Come on, let’s go fix you up.”

Matt tenderly cleaned and disinfected Max’s wound, blowing on it to ease the pain of the alcohol.

Max looked up, his face lit by a warm smile, contrasting with the pain in his eyes. “You know,” Max said, “when I was a kid, I would have just fixed this myself.” He glanced away. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“You’ve always taken care of yourself and everyone around you,” Matt said. “And your mom should have been the one taking care of you back then. And she shouldn’t have hurt you today.” Matt held Max’s hand between his own. “But from now on, I will always be here to take care of you. I promise.”

Matt leaned down to kiss Max’s forehead, next to the band aid. “Now come on,” Matt said, “help me choose a shirt. And we have to find something for you to wear to the party, too.”

“Wait,” Max said, “I wasn’t invited.”

“Not true,” replied Matt. “I get to bring a date. And now, you are my date. And I don’t want to leave you alone tonight. Now come.” Matt grabbed Max’s arm and pulled him up, heading to the bedroom.

“OK,” Max said, “but still, I thought you didn’t want the guys to know about us yet? You just barely broke up with Sarah.”

“I was wrong. I don’t care if they think I’m a cheater. I love you and I want the whole world to know it.”

It may have taken them a little longer than necessary to get dressed.

************

ONE WEEK BEFORE DEPARTURE

The game ended with a bang, as it always does. Shariff’s parties were never without a little screaming. Brass and Frank got into it, and then made up. Business as usual.

In a quiet moment, Matt and Max snuck away to Shariff’s workroom. The hall light flickered once as they walked through, then stayed bright.

Matt locked the door after they walked in, a wicked glint in his eyes.

Max hopped up on the counter. “This plastic sheeting is so creepy,” he said. “I feel like you’d wrap a body in it.”

Matt laughed. “That’s Shariff for you. Must be part of his rock star image.” He walked up to Max, straddling his legs. “You look beautiful tonight. I could barely focus on the game for want of you.”

Max scoffed. “Whatever,” he said.

Matt just smiled. He grabbed Max’s hand and slowly, lovingly kissed each bruised knuckle. Max leaned in, and Matt responded in kind.

The first kiss was gentle, a promise of more to come. From there, Matt worked his way across Max’s jaw to the base of his birth mark, slowly kissing his way up to the corner of Max’s eye.

To Matt, Max would be beautiful without the mark - but with, it he was perfect. The mark declared that Max could take the worst bullying the world could offer and pull through with a smile. Matt loved it as much as he loved the man.

Things sped up from there, the frantic press of their bodies matched by quickened breaths. Max reached down to undo Matt’s belt, and was rewarded with a moan when he succeeded. From there, ecstasy ensued.

Meanwhile, outside it had started pouring, and the rest of the guys ran out to rescue Shariff’s drying clothes. Of them all, only Rivette looked up and saw the slow caress of two hands up against the window. He paused for a second, smiling, then shifted his attention back to the matter at hand. “Hey Brass, you idiot! You left three socks in the mud!”

*********

ONE YEAR LATER

Matt was 30 minutes early to the airport. He couldn’t wait any longer and he didn’t want to be late. Max was coming home.

 _I hope he likes the apartment,_ he thought. Max was moving in with him. He’d had to downsize since leaving corporate law, but at least the apartment was still bigger than Max’s old place.

Matt felt butterflies in his stomach, but they weren’t nerves. He and Max had talked nearly every day the last year, and Matt’s mid-year visit had been the best vacation of his life. No, he wasn’t nervous, he was excited. He felt like a kid waiting to open up a pile of birthday presents.

Max texted when he landed, so Matt pushed his way to the front of Arrivals to greet him. He was wearing his favorite denim jacket and jeans, a dopey smile on his face.

Max came out the door, behind a loud American couple. When he looked up and saw Matt, a grin split Max’s face.

“Maxime,” Matt breathed, even though Max was too far to hear. _He is more beautiful than ever,_ Matt thought. _And he’s all mine._

Before that dumb film, Matt never thought he could be this happy. But with Max, he was in limbo no longer.


End file.
